Joshua C. Stoddard

Background

Joshua was born on August 26, 1814 in Pawlet, Rutland County, Vermont, United States, the son of Nathan Ashbel and Ruth (Judson) Stoddard, and a descendant of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard.

Education

He was educated at the public schools in Pawlet.

Career

After obtaining a common-school education in his native town Joshua worked on his father's farm for many years, engaging in bee culture and the production of honey. This occupation he pursued with ordinary success throughout his life, particularly in Worcester, Massachussets, where he resided for well over half a century.

His invention - a steam calliope, for which he received a patent on October 9, 1855. It was based upon the conception that the bells of the whistle by the vibration of whose thin edges the sound of the steam whistle is produced, could be so arranged as to render accurately the diatonic scale in music.

After experimenting for a number of years he succeeded in constructing a series of bells on which seven notes of the octave could be played by steam, and invented a delicate valve for the admission of steam to the whistles. His calliope consisted of a steam chest on top of which were a number of valve chambers (according to the number of whistles) having double poppet valves, and over each valve was a whistle of its own particular tone. A stem passed from each valve through the steam chamber to the outside, by which stem the valve could be opened and shut by the slightest pressure.

A long cylinder with pins driven into it was so placed that when it was revolved the pins pressed on the valve stems and thus blew the whistles to play a tune. Stoddard later made other improvements so that an organ or piano keyboard could be used in playing the instrument.

Late in 1855 he organized, in Worcester, the American Steam Music Company and began manufacturing instruments for use on steamboats, locomotives, and in circuses. The company held its first marine exhibit in August 1856 in the waters around New York, having fitted up an instrument on the side-wheel tugboat Union. This instrument was later placed permanently on the passenger boat Glen Cove.

In 1858 the Armenia, in passenger service on the Hudson, was equipped with a 34-whistle, keyboard calliope, which continued in use until 1870. Gradually instruments were installed on other vessels both in Eastern and mid-Western waters, and one or two were sold to circuses. Stoddard was an unworldly man with practically no business judgment and in less than five years was pushed out of the organization no better off than before making his invention.

On January 22 and August 12, 1884, he received patents for improvements in fire escapes, and on March 12, 1901, a patent for a fruitparing machine; but nothing came of them.

He died in 1902.

Achievements

• In the course of his life Joshua C. Stoddard was granted sixteen patents, most of which were for improvements in horsedrawn hay rakes. One invention, however, quite distinct from the rest, brought him much renown but no financial reward - steam calliope.

Personality

He was something of a poet, lived in constant expectation of the end of the world according to the ingenious calculations of the "timists, " and possessed considerable mechanical skill and ingenuity.

Connections

He was married on January 23, 1845, at Canaan, New York, to Lucy Maria Hersey, and at the time of his death in Springfield, Massachussets, was survived by two sons.

Father:

Nathan Ashbel Stoddard

Mother:

Ruth (Judson) Stoddard

Wife:

Lucy Maria Hersey